Only 10 percent of power coming from forest waste as proposed

8:38 PM,
Feb. 25, 2014

The Domtar-WE Energies biomass plant as it was being built in Rothschild.

Written by

Kevin Murphy
For Daily Herald Media

The recently built power plant at Domtar paper mill is getting only 10 percent of its fuel from logging waste, which originally was supposed to supply nearly all of the plant's energy needs.

The 50-megawatt, $255 million power plant went online in November to provide steam for Domtar's paper operations and a clean source of power for WE Energies. The plant will burn 500,000 tons of biomass annually, said Cathy Schulze, a WE Energies spokeswoman.

WE Energies told the Wisconsin Public Service Commission in its permit applications, which were required to build the facility, that logging waste ...